Panel B01 Bus on the Busway at Night

Where do you live (which road or which part of Trumpington)? Bishops Road

How long have you lived in Trumpington? 12 years – all my life

Can you tell us a bit about your panel?

When I saw a photograph of the guided busway at a Stitch in Time workshop at the village hall, I thought it would be fun to try and capture the perspective. The picture shows a cluster of buildings and cranes in the background and the guided bus coming towards the trees and nature. For me, the bus is like a link between the busy-ness of Cambridge and the allotments and the community orchard at Trumpington, which represents some of the nature that’s left around here. I can remember looking out of my bedroom window and seeing the poppies and hearing the combine harvester. I have watched all the houses springing up and I remember the dust flying everywhere and landing on our car! Now I cycle to school every day along the guided busway. I think the bus is helpful because it goes to the hospital and it’s good for people if they don’t have a car or a bike. But I think more cyclists and pedestrians use the path along the guided busway than the actual bus itself. Whenever the bus goes past me, really fast, there aren’t that many people on it.

What materials & techniques did you use?

First I traced the outline of the bus and the trees onto a piece of calico by holding the photograph up against a window. Then I did quite a lot of the picture using fabric paints. I made the sky purple to make it look like twilight, which is what it looks like when I’m cycling back from school in the winter. I used brown paint on a sponge to create the gravel. Then I used shimmery ribbons to make the lampposts. I created pools of light on the pavement using orange and red paints. I made bigger circles for each of the lampposts as they got nearer and nearer. I used fabric for the bus and red buttons for the cranes – but everything else was paint. Being involved in Stitch in Time was a really fun experience and taught me some new techniques.

This website was created in January 2016 using a public art grant for the Trumpington 2016-a Stitch in Time project.

If you are new to Trumpington or new to stitching, this could be the group for you. We share our skills and enthusiasms at our weekly evening meetings, occasional workshops and Facebook conversations.

Our thanks to Stephen Brown for the use of his photos of Stitch in Time wallhangings.